2008, Southern

The Flax of Reverie, the debut album from London-based Mothlite, is a mix of brooding instrumentals and spooky vocals in the post-punk vein.

The band, according to their MySpace page, was “conceived by horror prog maven Daniel O’Sullivan.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, or if it’s a good thing, but many of the tracks do run a horror film-like gamut of idyllic beginnings to noisy conclusions.

Like excessive sequels, tracks on Flax sometimes seem artificially long; multiple songs seem to begin and end within a single track. This sometimes feels unnatural, but the effect could easily be the result of actual pen-and-paper composition. It’s always a little tough to tell with albums like this, where players could easily be broodily noodling.

The final track is a case-in-point: it switches repeatedly from swell to denouement—a bit of a of mishmash that could work as snippets from a soundtrack—but listeners may wonder why the long songs on this album can’t be split into their own, much shorter tracks.

The record is overall very compelling, and because the songs are largely instrumental, it’s best heard loud; the vocal moments detract a little from the overall work and sometimes seem more like Enya than edgy, but they’re rare enough to forgive.

B